ROME, Ga. – Some much-needed accuracy at the free throw line and a crucial high-floating layup by Trevor McDade in the final seconds helped the Shorter Hawks secure their second straight Gulf South Conference victory Monday night at the Winthrop-King Centre when they handed Delta State an 83-80 defeat.

The win evens the Hawks' overall record to 8-8 and to 3-7 in the GSC heading into Saturday's league clash in Cleveland, Tenn., against Lee, a game that closes out the first half of the conference schedule.

Against the Statesmen (12-4, 7-3), Shorter carried over the momentum they gained two days earlier when the Hawks snapped a four-game GSC losing streak claiming a decision over Mississippi College, using the same kind of balance and consistency they displayed in that game against DSU.

The Hawks broke out to a nine-point lead, 14-5, when Amonte Potter found the bottom of the basket with a three-pointer. Delta State, however, closed the gap and thanks to a trey by Devin Schmidt with 2:21 to go in the first half grabbed a 28-27 lead.

But that proved to be the only time the Statesmen would find themselves in front as Potter connected on a three 30 seconds later to put Shorter back on top and as the horn sounded to end the first 20 minutes of play, Phil Taylor saw his shot from way beyond the three-point arc find its mark that gave the Hawks a 35-30 halftime lead.

The two teams began the second half just about matching each other point for point but after DSU made a run to assume a 43-41 lead with 15 minutes remaining, the Hawks regained the lead for good when Potter and Alijah Bennett scored inside.

Shorter stretched the margin to 10 points with 1:35 to go when Taylor hit a pair of free throws to give the Hawks a 79-69 edge, but the Statesmen wasted little time to get back into the game.

Schmidt began DSU's final charge sinking two foul shots with 1:14 left and after Taylor misfired on the front end of a one-and-one attempt at the charity stripe the Statesmen made it a one-point contest when P.J. Davis scored off an offensive rebounds and – by way of a Shorter turnover – scored in the lane to pull his team to within one, 79-78, with 53 seconds left in the game.

That's when McDade came up with the high-arching shot in which he drove to the basket and floated a high-arching shot off the glass and in the hoop that provided the Hawks with an 81-78 lead with 27 seconds left and with 11 seconds remaining Cole Birchfield put the lid on the win connecting on two foul shots.

Taylor led all scorers ending the night with 29 points, 17 of those coming in the final 20 minutes, while McDade finished with 14, Potter added 13 and Bennett had 10.

Davis paced the Statesmen with 11 points.